Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership Has $2.79 Billion Stake in Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL

Key Points

• Arrowstreet Capital significantly increased its Alphabet stake in the fourth quarter, boosting holdings by 63.2% to 8.93 million shares worth about $2.79 billion. Alphabet is now its 6th-largest position and represents 1.6% of its portfolio.
• Alphabet’s recent quarterly results were stronger than expected, with EPS of $5.11 versus estimates of $2.64 and revenue of $109.9 billion topping forecasts. The company also maintains strong profitability, with a 38.99% return on equity and 37.92% net margin.
• Market sentiment remains broadly positive: Alphabet announced a small dividend increase, while analysts continue to lean bullish with an average “Moderate Buy” rating and a price target of $413.13. Recent commentary also highlighted growth catalysts in Waymo, Wing, and AI-related cloud demand.

Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 63.2% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 8,927,693 shares of the information services provider's stock after acquiring an additional 3,457,517 shares during the quarter. Alphabet makes up 1.6% of Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership's portfolio, making the stock its 6th biggest position. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership owned 0.07% of Alphabet worth $2,794,373,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. CIBC Bancorp USA Inc. bought a new position in Alphabet in the third quarter worth $416,217,000. NewEdge Wealth LLC raised its holdings in Alphabet by 11.8% in the fourth quarter. NewEdge Wealth LLC now owns 887,209 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $277,696,000 after purchasing an additional 93,293 shares in the last quarter. Retail Employees Superannuation Pty Ltd as trustee for Retail Employees Superannuation Trust bought a new position in Alphabet in the fourth quarter worth $28,902,000. Private Advisory Group LLC raised its holdings in Alphabet by 12.2% in the fourth quarter. Private Advisory Group LLC now owns 24,717 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $7,736,000 after purchasing an additional 2,678 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Berkshire Hathaway Inc bought a new position in Alphabet in the third quarter worth $4,338,397,000. Institutional investors own 40.03% of the company's stock.

Alphabet Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:GOOGL opened at $359.68 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 1.92 and a quick ratio of 1.92. Alphabet Inc. has a 1-year low of $162.00 and a 1-year high of $408.61. The company has a market capitalization of $4.36 trillion, a PE ratio of 27.44, a PEG ratio of 1.54 and a beta of 1.23. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $360.45 and a 200-day moving average price of $330.26.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 29th. The information services provider reported $5.11 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.64 by $2.47. Alphabet had a return on equity of 38.99% and a net margin of 37.92%.The company had revenue of $109.90 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $106.98 billion. As a group, equities analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 14.3 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 15th. Investors of record on Monday, June 8th will be given a dividend of $0.22 per share. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.2%. This is a boost from Alphabet's previous quarterly dividend of $0.21. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 8th. Alphabet's payout ratio is 6.71%.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In related news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 1,050 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $393.26, for a total transaction of $412,923.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 2,531 shares of the company's stock, valued at $995,341.06. This trade represents a 29.32% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O'toole sold 617 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $289.63, for a total value of $178,701.71. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 10,093 shares in the company, valued at $2,923,235.59. This trade represents a 5.76% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold a total of 193,016 shares of company stock valued at $17,282,549 over the last three months. 11.61% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on the company. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price objective on Alphabet from $400.00 to $450.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Mizuho increased their price objective on Alphabet from $420.00 to $460.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Wednesday, May 6th. Stifel Nicolaus set a $420.00 price target on Alphabet and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Wolfe Research reduced their price target on Alphabet from $390.00 to $360.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Friday, April 10th. Finally, HSBC restated a "buy" rating and set a $420.00 price target (down from $435.00) on shares of Alphabet in a report on Tuesday, June 2nd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-seven have issued a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Alphabet presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $413.13.

Key Stories Impacting Alphabet

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Alphabet’s drone unit Wing expanded its Walmart partnership into seven more U.S. cities, pushing the service toward nearly 20 markets and signaling that drone delivery is moving from experiment to scalable business. Alphabet's Most Overlooked Division Just Had a Big Week
• Positive Sentiment: Waymo launched a new $29.99 monthly membership program with perks for frequent riders, a move that suggests the robotaxi business is building recurring revenue on top of rapid ride-growth. Waymo launches premier subscription tier for $29.99 a month, starting in select cities
• Positive Sentiment: TD Cowen raised its price target on Alphabet, adding to the bullish analyst backdrop and supporting the view that the stock still has room to run. Alphabet (GOOGL) Among Our Good Stocks to Buy Now
• Positive Sentiment: Bank of America and other commentary highlighted Alphabet as a long-term AI beneficiary, especially as rising model costs could strengthen demand for Google Cloud and infrastructure. Anthropic's Priciest AI Model Yet Is Here. Why Alphabet and Amazon Will Benefit.
• Neutral Sentiment: Alphabet sued an alleged Chinese cybercrime group accused of using Google’s AI tools to run scam operations, which shows the company is actively defending its platform but is not likely to move the stock much on its own. Google sues alleged Chinese cybercrime operation that used AI to send scam texts
• Neutral Sentiment: Some investors noted that Altimeter Capital fully exited its Alphabet stake in Q1, but this appears more like portfolio repositioning than a company-specific warning. Billionaire Brad Gerstner Dumped All of His Alphabet Then Bought 2 Stocks Nobody Expected

Alphabet Company Profile

Alphabet Inc is the holding company created in 2015 to organize Google and a portfolio of businesses developing technologies beyond Google's core internet services. Its principal operations are led by Google, which builds and operates consumer-facing products such as Google Search, YouTube, Android, Chrome, Gmail, Google Maps and Google Workspace, as well as advertising platforms (Google Ads and AdSense) that historically generate the majority of its revenue. Google also develops consumer hardware (Pixel phones, Nest smart-home devices, Chromecast) and developer and distribution platforms such as Google Play.

Beyond Google's consumer and advertising businesses, Alphabet invests in enterprise and infrastructure offerings through Google Cloud, which provides cloud computing, data analytics and productivity services to businesses and institutions.

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